anyone have a good lamdishe answer to settle the two?
What’s to settle? Chazal said there are 18 bones in the spine and that’s it. Whatever you “learned” in anatomy class is obviously wrong and to be disregarded*. If Chazal say there are 18 bones, then they are to believed and all the so-called doctors are to be ignored.
The Wolf
* Although, for your exam, I suggest you answer “l’shitosom.”